Software and Programming I Branching and Boolean Expressions Roman Kontchakov / Carsten Fuhs Birkbeck, University of London
Outline The if statement Comparing numbers and strings Nested branches Boolean variables and expressions Sections 3.1 3.4, 3.7 SP1 2018-02 1
Java Compilation and JRE source HelloWorld.java compiler javac bytecode HelloWorld.class java public static void main(string[] args) {... } running program Virtual Machine (VM) SP1 2018-02 2
My First Program 1 /* HelloWorld.java 2 Purpose: printing a hello message on the screen 3 */ 4 public class HelloWorld { 5 // each program is a class (week 6) 6 // almost everything in Java is an object 7 public static void main(string[] args) { 8 System.out.println("Hello, " + args[0] + "!"); 9 } 10 } NB. watch out for semicolons they are compulsory NB. names and reserved words are case-sensitive SP1 2018-02 3
Methods A method is a named sequence of instructions method name public static int sq(int x) { java code (sequence of instructions) } parameter (type and name) type of return value Parameter values are supplied when a method is called The return value is the result that the method computes Method algorithm function (in Python) NB: until week 6, all methods will be public static SP1 2018-02 4
Example 2: y = x 2 as a Method 1 public class PrintSquares { 2 public static void main(string[] args) { 3 printsquare(7); 4 printsquare(9); 5 } 6 public static int sq(int x) { // x is a parameter 7 int y = x * x; // compute xˆ2 8 return y; // return the value 9 } 10 public static void printsquare(int n) { 11 System.out.println(n + "ˆ2=" + sq(n)); 12 } 13 } the output: 7ˆ2=49 9ˆ2=81 NB: void means that the method does not return any value SP1 2018-02 5
Method Call Stack args main printsquare(7); n printsquare 7 public static void printsquare(int n) { System.out.println(n + "ˆ2=" + sq(n)); x y 7 49 0 sq public static int sq(int x) { int y = x * x; return y; } SP1 2018-02 6
Method Call Stack args main printsquare(7); printsquare(9); 7ˆ2=49 9ˆ2=81 n printsquare x y 7 9 9 81 0 sq public static void printsquare(int n) { System.out.println(n + "ˆ2=" + sq(n)); } public static int sq(int x) { evaluated to 49 81 int y = x * x; return y; } SP1 2018-02 7
Method Call Stack args main printsquare(7); printsquare(9); 7ˆ2=49 9ˆ2=81 SP1 2018-02 8
Swapping Values suppose there are two variables 1 int a, b; // the same as int a; int b; how do you swap the contents of a and b? a 4 b 5 2 int t = a; a 4 b 5 t 4 3 a = b; a 5 b 5 t 4 4 b = t; a 5 b 4 t 4 SP1 2018-02 9
The if Statement The if statement allows a program to carry out different actions depending on the nature of the data to be processed 1 Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in); 2 int floor = s.nextint(); 3 int actualfloor; 4 if (floor > 13) { 5 actualfloor = floor - 1; 6 } 7 else { 8 actualfloor = floor; 9 } 10 System.out.println("Actual floor: " + 11 actualfloor); floor actual floor 14 15 14 13 11 12 12 9 10 11 7 8 10 5 6 9 3 4 8 7 1 2 6 5 4 3 2 SP1 2018-02 1 10
Statement Blocks A block is a group of 0 or more statements between balanced { and } (in Python: a group of statements indented at the same level) A block can be used anywhere a single statement is allowed the following is equivalent to the code on p. 10, lines 3-9 1 int actualfloor; 2 if (floor > 13) 3 actualfloor = floor - 1; 4 else 5 actualfloor = floor; SP1 2018-02 11
The Else Branch is Optional The else branch is optional 1 int discountedprice = originalprice; 2 if (originalprice > 100) 3 discountedprice = originalprice - 10; is equivalent to 1 int discountedprice; 2 if (originalprice > 100) 3 discountedprice = originalprice - 10; 4 else 5 discountedprice = originalprice; SP1 2018-02 12
If: Common Mistakes NB: do not put the semicolon after if(...) 1 int discountedprice = originalprice; 2 if (originalprice > 100); { // empty statement in if 3 // LOGICAL ERROR: this block is executed anyway 4 discountedprice = originalprice - 10; 5 } // it is, however, NOT a syntax (compile) error SP1 2018-02 13
Constants the reserved word final ensures that the value of the variable never changes: final double BOTTLE VOLUME = 2; use names for constants and avoid magic numbers all uppercase with words separated by is a coding convention Java does not check it! SP1 2018-02 14
Comparing Numbers relational operators >, >=, <, <=, ==,!= are applicable to int, double and other numerical datatypes NB: NOT but why not, e.g., => instead of >=? (assignment operators, week 3) relational operators return boolean values (either true or false), which, for example, can be stored in boolean variables 1 int floor = 2; 2 int top = 12; 3 boolean over = floor > top; SP1 2018-02 15
IEEE Floating Point Numbers float: ±1.18 10 38 to ±3.4 10 38 with approx. 7 decimal digits sign exponent (8 bit) fraction (23 bit) NB: float should never be used for precise values, e.g., currency; use java.math.bigdecimal class instead double: ±2.23 10 308 to ±1.80 10 308 with approx. 15 decimal digits sign exponent (11 bit) fraction (52 bit) NB: in Java, 1e-14 means 10 14 or 0. 0000000000000 }{{} 13 zeros SP1 2018-02 16 1
Comparing Floating-Point Numbers arithmetic operations on floating-point numbers cannot be precise use small ε = 10 14 to compare floating numbers: 1 final double EPSILON = 1e-14; // constant (see p. 14) 2 double r = Math.sqrt(2.0); 3 // r*r is 2.0000000000000004 rather than 2.0 4 if (Math.abs(r * r - 2.0) < EPSILON) { 5 System.out.println("Math.sqrt(2.0) squared " + 6 "is approx 2.0"); 7 } SP1 2018-02 17
Strings strings are sequences of characters: String name = "Harry"; }{{} literal the length method yields the number of characters in the string: int n = name.length(); the empty string "" is of length 0 string positions are counted starting with 0 H a r r y position 0 1 2 3 4 SP1 2018-02 18
Comparing Strings "Tomato".substring(0,3).equals("Tom") is true NB: == is not useful for strings in Java: (in contrast to Python) "Tomato".substring(0,3) == ("Tom") is false why? Strings are objects (week 6) s1.compareto(s2) compares strings lexicographically: < 0 if s1 comes before s2 in the dictionary == 0 if s1 equals s2 > 0 if s1 comes after s2 in the dictionary in Python, use s1 < s2, s1 == s2 and s1 > s2, respectively SP1 2018-02 19
Characters char is a numerical datatype literals H, A, etc. NB. do not confuse characters ( H ) and strings containing a single character ("H") NB. Python has no special datatype for characters, there H and "H" are both strings Class Character provides the following methods: Character.isDigit(ch): 0, 1,..., 9,... Character.isLetter(ch): A, B,..., Z, a, b,..., z,... Character.isUpperCase(ch): A, B,..., Z,... Character.isLowerCase(ch): a, b,..., z,... Character.isWhiteSpace(ch):, \n,... SP1 2018-02 20
Nested Branches and the Dangling else What is wrong in the following example? 1 double shippingcharge = 5.00; 2 if (country.equals("usa")) 3 if (state.equals("hi")) 4 shippingcharge = 10.00; // Hawaii is 5 // more expensive 6 else 7 shippingcharge = 20.00; // as are foreign 8 // shipments NB: the Java compiler does not care about indentation (in contrast to Python) SP1 2018-02 21
Nested Branches and the Dangling else 1 double shippingcharge = 5.00; 2 if (country.equals("usa")) { 3 if (state.equals("hi")) 4 shippingcharge = 10.00; // Hawaii is 5 // more expensive 6 } 7 else 8 shippingcharge = 20.00; // as are foreign 9 // shipments NB: use curly brackets {} to avoid the dangling else problem SP1 2018-02 22
Boolean Variables and Operators The Boolean type boolean has two values, false and true three Boolean operators that combine conditions: && (and), (or),! (not) A B A && B false false false false true false true false false true true true A B A B false false false false true true true false true true true true A!A false true true false SP1 2018-02 23
Lazy Evaluation && and are computed using lazy evaluation: stops as soon as the result is known price/quantity < 10 && quantity > 0 can result in a run-time error (division by 0) if quantity is 0 quantity > 0 && price/quantity < 10 never divides by 0 SP1 2018-02 24
Boolean Operators De Morgan s Laws:!(A && B) is equivalent to!a!b!(a B) is equivalent to!a &&!B NB: Java does not use mathematical notation: if (0 <= temp <= 100) // ERROR - not an expression instead, use if (0 <= temp && temp <= 100) NB: and is NOT a Java operation SP1 2018-02 25
Conditional Operator conditional operator? : lets us write simple conditional statements as expressions 1 int actualfloor = (floor > 13)? floor - 1 : floor; is equivalent to 1 int actualfloor; 2 if (floor > 13) 3 actualfloor = floor - 1; 4 else 5 actualfloor = floor; an expression SP1 2018-02 26
Operation Precedence! unary highest *, /, % multiplicative +, - additive <, <=, >=, > relational ==,!= equality && logical AND logical OR?: conditional lowest boolean f = 13 < floor - 1; is the same as boolean f = 13 < (floor - 1); SP1 2018-02 27
Return Values The return statement (1) terminates a method call and (2) yields the method result 1 public static double cubevolume(double sidelength) { 2 if (sidelength < 0) 3 return 0; 4 // more code 5 return sidelength * sidelength * sidelength; 6 } NB: if a method has no return value (void), then it can contain return; only (without any value) SP1 2018-02 28
Take Home Messages The if statement allows a program to carry out different actions depending on the data to be processed Relational operators are used to compare numbers Use equals and compareto to compare strings else is matched with the preceding if && and are computed lazily The return statement terminates a method call and yields the method result SP1 2018-02 29